Before we begin, may I remind you that…

You’ve been warned.

In May 2014, Bernie and I had date night to see some Irish lads in concert. The first time they came to Dubai, with two more than now, I could not go see them. Because I just had a baby and it was summer, it was hot and I couldn’t be bothered to put on decent clothes and step out of the house. Anyway. So when i found out they were doing a one-night-only show in Dubai, I did not hesitate to buy tickets. It actually presented a dilemma when Justin Timberlake also announced a show in Abu Dhabi the night following Boyzone’s show. I decided not to go see JT and I don’t regret it. I would not have been able to sing-along because I don’t know most of his songs.

So the evening of the 22nd May came and thank goodness it was not as hot as I thought it would be. The tennis stadium was not fully packed but it was a decent crowd. Shame that Mikey could not join the show, due to a bereavement apparently, but these guys were quite impressive on their own.

Because it was more or less a tour to celebrate Boyzone’s 20th year, they had to sing songs from their latest album, BZ20. I started listening to the album a month before the show so I managed to enjoy some of these. Ruby was one of those classic Boyzone tunes but with a slight edge of maturity to it. Ronan did most of the main vocal duties, naturally but Keith and Shane were excellent in backing him up.

Never ask me about the set list. I never pay attention, I certainly don’t note it down on my phone or on a piece of paper! I remember Words, You Needed Me, Picture of You but not much else. I did enjoy their first set. For the second set they had a change of outfits. I have no idea what is going on with Shane! The braces were loose and certainly not needed to hold his pants up, which were too short as it appears. And I don’t know why they did not protest and demanded to wear sleeveless vests and shorts and flipflops instead of jackets and trousers!

The first part of the second act was a tribute to Stephen Gately. It was wonderful. They sang no Matter What, which was one of the highlights of Boyzone with Stephen. They then sat down and told their personal stories of Stephen. It was touching and funny, esp Keith’s story about Stephen being so upset with him that they didn’t speak for a week!

One of the biggest hits of their career was Baby, Can I Hold You. Everyone knows the words to that song, even if you didn’t know that Boyzone did a cover if it. Tracy Chapman’s version was a lot edgier but Boyzone’s version was no less powerful. For this number, they stood just to our left. Did I mention we were right up against the barrier? A few feet away from the stage? Yes, we were. We had a great view of everyone, including the musicians. See what I mean about the outfits and the heat in Dubai in May?

This gave us a lot of photo opportunities. Glad they were all standing quite still and not dancing around all over the place! I even managed to get a really good photo of them on my phone.

Ronan does derpy faces! He was too funny. This was when the intro to the song started playing and him and Shane were sharing what must have been a private joke.

Ronan introduced the song as the one that kids used to dance to at prom and Keith proceeded to take Ronan’s hand and they did a little swirly dance. Cute.

One of my favourite numbers of the evening was Light Up The Night. It’s from the BZ20 album and it’s a nice little track. Click on the link to watch the video on YouTube.

And for their encore performance, they changed into all-black outfits with gold accessories. Shane’s outgrown his long coat obsession of the early 2000s but has now got a full beard and an obsession with braces. And he has more ink on his body that ever before! Keith’s just gotten better with age.

Ronan stepped down from the stage for their version of Life is a Rollercoaster. The crowd went wild. My husband managed to get a couple of high fives from him. I drowned in a sea of arms all over my head trying to get a piece of Ronan. I should have just snuck out and grabbed him for a hug and a kiss! I wonder how my husband would have reacted? And Ronan? Anyway, I leave you with this final “thank you, Dubai” group photo. More photos to follow in the next post.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the fangirly side of me. Don’t hold it against me please. Unless it’s called Tom Hiddleston, or Benedict Cumberbatch, or one of those hunters from Supernatural, or a mad man travelling in a blue phone box. You get the idea.